REPORT: The Last of Us 2 Release Date Will Be Later This Year

By way of an unassuming post on Playstation Sweden’s official Facebook page, it seems that The Last of Us 2 Release Date will be later this year. A list of Playstation exclusives set for release in 2018 mentions the sequel, alongside Ghost of Tsushima and God of War among others. It is difficult to ascertain the authenticity of the statement. The nonchalance of the post and the accompanying message ‘This is going to be an incredible Playstation year’ are at odds with Sony’s newly adopted announcement philosophy.

Sony’s Announcement Protocol

In the past, it has announced titles with great fanfare only for the games to actually be released years later. For example, we can hark back to the big Final Fantasy VII Remake reveal at E3 2015. To this day, the game still has no release date. In an effort to curb this, Sony has adopted the habit of only announcing release dates when games are all but complete. Or at the very least, development has passed the experimental early stages where mechanics and story lines aren’t set in stone.

With this in mind, the announcement contradicts what we learned at a PSX panel back in December 2017. In reference to The Last of Us 2, game director Neil Druckmann said, ‘We’re like 50 to 60 percent done. I don’t know how far.’ We find it hard to believe that Sony is announcing a game that only a few months ago was barely half finished.

Will The Last of Us 2 Released Date Be In 2018?

The post may be a simple mistake. Made, possibly, by a witless social media intern at Playstation Sweden, for example. Conversely, someone has made a huge gaffe by leaking the news about The Last of Us 2 and the game may actually be set for release this year. Keeping in mind Sony’s announcement protocol, this may in fact mean the game is well and truly ready for a 2018 release date. We could even hypothesize this is a carefully crafted marketing ploy with the aim of creating even more hype around the title.

We can toy with conjecture and second guess the veracity of it to no end. However, the bottom line is that the news comes from an official source. The post published on Thursday has yet to be deleted. Until we hear more from Sony itself, all we can do is hope. In the meantime, we know for certain game play is confirmed for E3 2018.

The Last of Us 2 – First Reveal

The Last of Us 2, the sequel to one of the Playstation’s most revered games was announced with great pomp at Playstation Experience 2016. The intriguing, yet all too scarce reveal trailer begins with shots of a verdant forest accompanied by a haunting soundtrack. As the camera pans back, dilapidated vehicles and buildings come into view. The camera settles on a stop sign stamped with the Fireflies symbol, hinting at a possible plot device.

An older Ellie appears on screen, bloodied and trembling. On her lower arm is a new tattoo, close to where she was bitten in the original game. She proceeds to tune a guitar, then begins playing a heart-wrenching rendition of Shawn James’ ‘Through The Valley’. A shadowy figure walks towards Ellie through a home strewn with mutilated bodies. It turns out to be Joel. He solemnly asks her, ‘what are you doing, kiddo? You really gonna go through with this?’ She pauses, and hatefully retorts, ‘I’m gonna find and I’m gonna kill every last one of them.’

The Last of Us 2 – Paris Games Week 2017 Controversy

Since then, the only official word has come in the form of a controversy marred second teaser at Paris Games Week in September. Outrage centered on the hyper-brutality portrayed, sending numerous critics into a spiral of condemnation. The violence is at odds with the humanity portrayed in The Last of Us, namely the hugely emotive bond between Ellie and Joel. Their relationship dampened the barbarity of the world they faced and made the violence more palatable.

In the trailer, two cloaked figures drag a female character through heavy downfall. They drop her to the ground below hanging corpses. She is then hoisted into the air. A small bucket is all that stands between her and death. From here, it all escalates quickly into all out violence with a gruesome ‘clipping’ of wings, deftly aimed arrows to the head, suffocation, death and the approach of a horde of the infected.

What We know So Far About The Last of Us 2

Naughty Dog have let slip scant details about The Last of Us 2. This is what we know so far. A large portion of the game takes place in Seattle. One of the characters is Pregnant. The playable protagonist is a nineteen-year-old Ellie, rather than Joel. Five years into the future is when the game takes place. The game is about hate and revenge.

Secrecy is the name of the game when it comes to the video game industry and Naughty Dog is playing its hand awfully close to the chest.